The last we heard of Raja Bell he was in a dispute with the Utah Jazz — he didn’t like how he was being used by coach Tyron Corbin, voiced his displeasure and the team told him to stay away while they tried to find him a new home. Utah couldn’t find a taker to trade him, they wanted to buy him out but he wouldn’t take a penny less than his full salary to be set free. So for a season the Jazz paid him to stay away from the team, they waived him in early March 2013 (but after the deadline where he could sign with another team for the playoffs).

Bell was invited to work out for the Knicks prior to this season, however a guy at age 37 who has had some injuries and a diminishing skill set was not likely to land a roster spot. And he hasn’t.

“Earlier this year I shut it down,” Bell told Talkin Hoopz. “I’m 37, I have three boys, I do miss it, but physically it wasn’t realistic for me to keep training and keep putting my body through what I’ve been putting it through for the last 20 years….

“To be ready to help somebody in the playoffs, you have to be trained and have to be in shape,” Bell said. “Not training, not having been in the gym for the last month, I wouldn’t entertain anything like that. I’d be flattered, but I’d have to say no because I don’t think I’d be able to live up to my end of the bargain at this point.”

Bell had a 12-year NBA career built a lot around his defense — he twice made the NBA All-Defensive Team. He had a rivalry with Kobe Bryant because of it (he was one of the alleged “Kobe stoppers” that never really existed) and Bell may be best remembered by some for the time he clotheslined Bryant in the playoffs. (Kobe aways respected him and at times asked the Lakers to try and get Bell.) He was a “3-and-D” guy who for his career shot 40.6 percent from beyond the arc and averaged 9.9 points a game. He made a tidy little $36 million over the course of his career. Not bad at all.

In fact, in Saturday’s dunk contest, he didn’t look like a dunker at all.

The Pacers star missed all three attempts of his first dunk, and a Black Panther mask was by far the biggest draw of his second. Oladipo was eliminated after the first round.

Maybe Dennis Smith Jr. wasn’t the only eliminated dunker who left something in his bag. This Oladipo dunk – 180 degrees, throwing ball off the backboard with his left hand while in mid-air, dunking with his right hand – while preparing in Los Angeles was awesome.

A statement released Wednesday by the NFL and NBA clubs says their 90-year-old owner is resting comfortably at Ochsner Medical Center, a hospital which also serves as a major sponsor and which owns naming rights to the teams’ training headquarters.

Benson has owned the New Orleans Saints since 1985 and bought the New Orleans Pelicans in 2012.

In recent years, Benson has overhauled his estate plan so that his third wife, Gayle, would be first in line to inherit control of the two major professional franchises.

Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said he’d be surprised if Kawhi Leonard played again this season, a stark reversal from just a month ago. Back then, even while announcing Leonard was out indefinitely with a quad injury, the San Antonio coach said Leonard wouldn’t miss the rest of the season.

After spending 10 days before the All-Star break in New York consulting with a specialist to gather a second opinion on his right quad injury, All-NBA forward Kawhi Leonard bears the burden of determining when he’s prepared to play again, sources told ESPN.

Leonard has been medically cleared to return from the right quad tendinopathy injury, but since shutting down a nine-game return to the Spurs that ended Jan. 13, he has elected against returning to the active roster, sources said.

The uncertainty surrounding this season — and Leonard’s future which could include free agency in the summer of 2019 — has inspired a palpable stress around the organization, league sources said.

At first glance, this sounds like Derrick Rose five years ago. Even after he was cleared to play following a torn ACL, the then-Bulls star remained mysterious about when he’d suit up. His confidence in his physical abilities seemed to be a major issue, and he was never the same player since (suffering more leg injuries).

But the Spurs famously favor resting players to preserve long-term health. They seem unlikely to rush back Leonard. They might even sit players who want to play more often. And Leonard isn’t Rose.

Still, it’s clear something is amiss in San Antonio. Maybe not amiss enough to end Leonard’s tenure there, but the longer this lingers, the more time for tension to percolate.